


eternity in the horizon

by aetherae



Series: We race towards the dawn. [1]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Gen, Reincarnation fic, but when you're dealing with future fic you kinda have to, in any case have another love song of a fic for alisha, some minor ocs here and there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-09 03:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7785760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aetherae/pseuds/aetherae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alisha Diphda closes her eyes and breathes her last human breath. Melphis Amekia opens her own and takes her first breath as a seraph.</p>
            </blockquote>





	eternity in the horizon

**Author's Note:**

> my entry for the tales of big bang's hard mode at tumblr! god i can't believe i though this fic would be normal mode length (~4k words) like...... look at this monster..... what was i thinking. there was honestly so much i had to cut out because of time constraints so GET READY FOR A SERIES SET IN THIS VERSE.... all that said though i had an absolute BLAST writing this, and i'd love to do it again! (although maybe with a less ambitious fic idea.)

Alisha Diphda, gray-haired and with crow-feet at her eyes and laugh lines framing her mouth, breathes her last surrounded by loved ones and friends, a smile gracing her lips. She has no tears to shed, no regrets to lament, and for all the things she wishes she could’ve done, could’ve seen, could’ve known, her heart is at peace when it beats for the last time. It was a long life, a good life, a human life. She knows she could ask for nothing more, and she wants for nothing else.

Except, just maybe, for one small, small thing.

But there’s no time, not for a human, and it’s a truth she has long since accepted. There’s no need to hold onto that wish any longer. It will simply be something she carries with her to the next world.

So Alisha Diphda, beloved princess and esteemed high general of Hyland, adored by citizens and non-citizens, humans and seraphim alike, closes her eyes for the last time.

●

Melphis Amekia, bright-eyed and young with flaxen hair spilling down her back, opens her eyes to see the world as a seraph for the very first time, and falls in love.

●

“Oh? It’s been a while since this has happened!”

Turning around, she sees—a seraph, she knows immediately. The first seraph she’s ever met. The first _person_ she’s ever met. Despite having just been born, she doesn’t even blink at their presence, no matter how unexpected it is. Second by second, she feels the world pulse beneath her feet, in her veins, from everything of her entire being, and second by second, she knows more. That she is a seraph. That she isn’t the _only_ seraph. That they all have names in a language no one speaks anymore, their true names, but those aren’t the names they give.

She laughs easily, light and without worry. In this village of rolling green plains and the blue sky right beside them, there’s no hostility, just a calm, idyllic peace. “As rare as this must be for you, I have to say that this is even more interesting to me.”

“Yeah, it really must be. I can’t even remember what it was like when I was born!” They gesture beyond a grand archway towards the village proper. “Well, why don’t you take a look around? This place is as good a starting point for a seraph as any, I’d say.”

It’s beautiful, certainly. With every breath she takes, it feels as if the calm of the air settles deeper in her lungs, clear and pure, the vast and cloudless blue sky above her being reflected in her heart. There are a few other seraphim out and about, some even emerging from stone houses, and it immediately strikes her as—odd. She finds it hard to imagine that any seraph would choose to shelter themselves from the very nature they come from, but she finds it even harder to understand why she thinks so when this is the first time she’s seen any seraph in the first place.

There are a lot of moments like that, where she knows and understands but doesn’t know _why_ she understands.

How her appearance—armored legs, a flared skirt brushing past her knees, and a flower of some sort pinning back part of her bangs—is something she wills based on preference, even if she doesn’t consciously know what those preferences are. How she recognizes immediately that the air here is not like what the air would be in the world down below. That there’s a world down below. How there are no humans here, unlike the rest of the world, but this is meant to be a special place anyways. That while there is no malevolence here, it is likely to be out there somewhere else. How she’ll need to be able to defend against it, and she will be, to an extent. That when she sees how light responds intuitively under her hand, beneath her fingertips, that she responds back to it in turn, this is how she can defend herself.

Defend herself against hellions, primarily. Against other seraphim, possibly.

And against humans, if she wanted.

It’s a frightening thought.

But it’s only her first day of—living. Existing. In front of the endless time stretched before her, she knows there’s no need to rush.

In fact, it’s not until later that someone even asks for her name.

“So, what’s your name?” she’s asked later by the first seraph she met at the front of the village. They’re in one of the stone houses, the only vacant one in Elysia if that’s where she wanted to stay. Despite being vacant, the very first room is lined from top to bottom with shelves, and each shelf has rows upon rows of books, all about history and time periods, records and legends. Her friend had laughed when she dove immediately into reading through them, apologizing that they no longer remembered how long it had been since the ages mentioned in the books.

She opens her mouth without thinking, still in the middle of reading about the Era of Asgard, and the first thing that comes out is, “Alisha."

As the sound rolls past her lips, she pauses. Melphis Amekia. Alisha the Smiling. Yes, that is who she is.

“Alisha... Where have I heard that before?” They hum, folding their arms and tapping their feet, before thumping their fist against their open palm. “Oh, that’s why you looked so familiar! Weren’t you Sorey’s friend from before?”

“Sorey?” She blinks. “Who is that?”

They look at her, and she looks at them. She doesn’t know what they’re looking for in her face, but she doesn’t think they’ll find anything more than confusion. “Sorry, my mistake. You just got here, after all! Of course you wouldn’t know him.”

Her friend laughs it away easily, and she doesn’t pay much mind to it, more interested in reading through the books there than anything else. It’s only later, late into the evening and with dozens upon dozens of books scattered around her on the floor from all her reading, that she thinks back on it. The name bothers her, somehow.

Sorey.

Alisha doesn’t know him, but she remembers the name for a long, long time.

● 

Two-thirds through the _Celestial Records_ and with half of the shelves in the house emptied of new reading material, Alisha realizes something.

She wants to see the Great Camelot Bridge.

Elysia is lovely. Isolated and edenic, she thinks she would be hard-pressed to find another place on Glenwood like it, even if she has nowhere else to compare it to. She’s grateful to all the seraphim there, not just for welcoming her into their sanctuary immediately as one of their own, but for everything they’ve taught her all the while. Not a single one of them could remember the last time a seraph appeared to them like this, but they patiently answered all her questions, showed her everything there was to see in both the village and the nearby ruins; she must have seemed like a baby in their eyes. They taught her so much in just such a short while.

But she wants to see the Great Camelot Bridge. She wants to see the Great Camelot Bridge, and the Meadow of Triumph, and the Patinal Forest Malory, and Rayfalke, and Ladylake, and Westronbolt Gorge.

Alisha wants to see the world she saw when she first opened her eyes.

So she says her goodbyes, sees everyone one more time before stepping past the archway for what she knows will be the last time in a long while. Not a single one of them are surprised when she says she’ll be leaving; she’s not sure if that means she’s just that predictable, or if this is part of the natural life of a seraph. They make her promise to come visit again, and she does, smiling all the while.

This isn’t a sad parting. She knows they’ll all still be here, whenever it is that she returns. And she will, she’s sure. Elysia is the beginning of her world; she’ll return and visit again someday.

That day will simply be a time far into her future.

●

“Princess? Is that you?”

In the thick of Pendrago’s market crowd unseen, Alisha—does not recognize that voice. There’s no reason to even assume that the voice is directed towards her; few seraphim seem to enjoy walking among humans like she does, and even fewer humans have the ability to see her. To begin with, she isn’t even a princess. She can’t think of a single person who would call out to her.

But instinctively, without thinking, before she even realizes, Alisha turns to find a tattooed man with long silver hair, their green ends matching the feathers on his shoulder. Even with a hat tipped over his face, she can see the man’s mouth hanging agape and amber eyes wide.

Until he hollers, whoops, and comes rushing towards her with a gust of wind blowing him forward.

“I can’t believe it’s really you!” he laughs, slinging an arm around her shoulder in a half-hug. “Oh man, how long’s it been? You should’ve tried to find one of us! Or maybe you’re just feeling a bit shy?”

The man reels her in closer, his grin a little too close for comfort, and her face flushes as his bare chest suddenly takes up all her vision. Alisha might be a seraph, but that doesn’t make her a saint. “I—uh, I’m sorry, but I really have no idea what you’re talking about!”

He looks at her, eyes practically boring into hers, before some kind of realization dawns on him and he finally lets her go. Silently, she lets out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. With his newly freed arm, the man scratches his head.

“… Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t. Sorry, I dunno why I thought you would.”

She eyes him carefully. “It’s alright.”

Alisha expects that to be that, the awkward conversation done and over with, but as she turns back to the wares she’d been perusing, she realizes that the man is still there. Standing. Watching her with something halfway between the frank intrigue of a stranger and overly familiar nostalgia.

She looks back at him. “… Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Hm?” he hums, raising an eyebrow. “Well obviously, yeah.”

“Then what is it?” she asks with a sigh, more annoyed than she should be on a sunny day in a market bustling with people. If this doesn’t get this sorted quickly, she can just as easily take her leave and continue looking through another day.

“Look, just because I made a mistake assuming you’d know about all this already doesn’t mean I was wrong about who you are.”

Alisha balks. “What on earth are you talking about, _again_? You’re a complete and utter stranger to me, and I to you.”

He waggles his eyebrows. “But a _familiar_ stranger, right?” Despite the fact that Alisha does not even so much as blink at him, the man continues without missing a beat. “I’m serious though! I know who you are, princess.”

“Obviously you don’t if that’s what you’re calling me. I’m no princess.”

“But you _are_ Alisha.” She stills. “Or maybe I should say Mel—”

Her heart lurches.

“ _Stop_!”

Alisha hasn’t breathed her true name to anyone, not a single soul. She’s never even heard it spoken aloud, not even from herself. That a complete stranger could say it so easily is—terrifying, somehow. She doesn’t know why, doesn’t even know if she understands this dread, just that to hear her true name invoked without her having given it would change her, maybe even hurt her in some irrevocable way. Like she would no longer be herself. Whatever that means. It’s the reason why for all her comfort and trust in the people of Elysia, she had not exchanged true names with any of them, and they with her. It simply was not the way of true names.

“Alright, you’ve made your point!” she manages between pants, heart still racing and the pit of her stomach unbearably heavy. “I don’t know how, but you know me. You must.”

He levels his gaze with her, nodding. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made a joke about your name like that.”

“I sincerely wish you hadn’t either, but you had a point to prove, and you proved it well. I believe you.” Although as far as proving that he was someone she knew that she _trusted_ , he had a rather poor way of going about it.

“Yeah, but at this rate, you’re never even gonna _like_ me,” he sighs, crossing his arms, “And out of everyone else, you were probably the only one who actually liked me right away. I’d prefer it if things stayed that way.”

Despite having gotten along so easily with everyone in Elysia, with every rare seraph she’s come across since, Alisha can’t help but heave her own sigh. “Do you mean to explain any of this, or will I be left confused every time you speak?”

His eyes widen, and he’s gaping at her again, but the next sound that leaves his mouth is a heaving guffaw, some personal joke she’s not privy to. “Man, you really have changed! I shouldn’t have expected anything less, but still, I can’t believe you just talked to me like that. Your past self probably would’ve died before saying something like that to a seraph!”

She blinks. “Past self? What do you mean?”

The man lets out one last laugh, readjusting his tipped-over hat. “Let me start with some introductions first. It won’t be all that fair if I know you when you can’t say the same for me. The name’s Zaveid.” He smiles, all the warm familiarity in his eyes put into a single upturn of his lips. “Or Filk Zadeya, if you’d prefer.”

Filk Zadeya. Zaveid of a Promise.

Now it’s her mouth that’s hanging open.

“Wha—” she starts, not even knowing where to begin. “I mean, why?! Why did you tell me that? I don’t—I shouldn’t know that! You shouldn’t have told me. You realize that, right?”

He laughs again, easily, only shrugging once his chuckles die down. “It’s too late now. Besides, I already said it, didn’t I? I know you, and I know you won’t abuse my name.”

He’s right. Whether a true name is exchanged with a human or a seraph, once the words have been spoken, they can’t be taken back. The power over the name-bearer can’t be ungiven. That’s what it means to tell someone your true name. And Alisha knows without a shred of doubt that she would never abuse this power he’s given her, the power over his own being, not even to save her own life.

“So trust me when I say you’re someone I know, and I’m someone you knew.”

For the first time since he nearly picked her up in a hug, she feels some of the tension drain from her shoulders. “Very well. I’ll trust you, so will you explain how it is that you know me?”

She doesn’t miss the distinction that her acquaintance with him is past tense.

“Anything for the Lady Alisha,” he says with an exaggerated flourish, and this time, his eyebrow waggling makes her laugh.

They continue to walk through the market as he tells her everything, but she’s long since stopped paying attention to the wares, and the market’s already shut down for the day by the time he finishes explaining everything there is to say. That she’s a seraph now, but she used to be human before. That as a human she was Alisha Diphda, princess to Hyland and its most beloved knight. That she’d also been Alisha the Smiling and Alisha the Crying, squire to two Shepherds even while balancing politics and army affairs for the sake of peace between two countries. That while she served both as diligently as she could, a human who tried so hard to be more than she was, she’d outlived them both, one buried in a cliff overlooking the sea and the other still slumbering elsewhere for the sake of this world. That in her final moments, surrounded by all the seraphim who’d been there with her on her journeys, himself included, even though she could only barely make out their forms, she’d thanked all of them for everything and passed on with a smile gracing her lips.

It’s all just a bit unreal to her.

They’re in the noble’s quarters by now, Zaveid idly sitting on the ledge of a terrace while Alisha leans against it. She looks out towards the dark horizon, the sky’s only illumination the stars and moon now, and tries to imagine all the places he said she’s been to—Ladylake, Marlind, Lastonbell, Glaivend Basin. The only thing that comes to mind is the description of each place from the _Celestial Records_.

She shakes her head. “Even if you say all that, I don’t remember a single thing.”

“Honestly, it’d be weirder if you did. There aren’t a whole lot of seraphim born from reincarnation, but every single one of them remembers nothing, aside from maybe a flash of memory or two. That’s just how it works.”

“Do you speak from experience?”

“Who, me?” he laughs. “I can’t even _remember_ when I came around, let alone how. You start to lose track of things after the first few centuries.”

She raises an eyebrow. “How I was born couldn’t be all that important, could it?”

“Nah, not really.” He pauses, and for a second Alisha thinks that’s all he means to say, until he shrugs. “Not usually anyways. It’s kinda funny though. A little while before… Well, before your past life ended, Lailah even told you that there was a possibility you could reincarnate. Even though your resonance was never all that high, she said she wouldn’t be surprised if someone like you came back again as a seraph.”

“And what did I say to that?” she asks, wondering if she’ll have to spend every conversation with these former companions asking about what she did, what happened way back when. Alisha isn’t exactly a fledgling seraph, not in her eyes, but it’s strange to think that for as much as her life is unwritten, still to come, she’s already had a lifetime of deeds done.

“Said you didn’t need to come back. You’d taken care of everything you needed or wanted to do, so there was nothing holding you back from moving on. Yet here you are, back again even when you said you wouldn’t be.”

He hops off the ledge, and she turns to face him, back straight and head tilted.

“You think there’s something I wanted to do still.”

“What else would there be, yeah?” he asks with a grin, leaning an arm on her shoulder despite how much the movement makes him hunch down to her height. His overly familiar attitude should bother her, maybe even annoy her, but instead she can’t help but find it endearingly amusing. Maybe deep down, her heart remembers being used to this. “So c’mon, you can tell your old pal Zaveid. What do you wanna do?”

She looks back out towards the horizon again, trying to imagine all those places she’d been to but doesn’t remember. She tries to picture even the places she’d never allegedly gone to, maybe even ones she’d never even heard of or knew existed.

Melphis Amekia doesn’t know if this was what Alisha Diphda came back for, but even if it isn’t, it’s what _she_ wants to do.

She wants to see—

“I want to see the world, and everything it has to offer, with my own two eyes. That’s all.”

Zaveid nods, grinning wider with something more than just casual friendliness. It almost looks fond, and she wonders what it is that he’s remembering about her human life. “Then I’ve got just the thing to show you.”

He takes off running into the night, and for all that Alisha _doesn’t_ know him, not truly, she hears her armored feet pounding against the cobblestone before she realizes it. Despite his eagerness, it actually takes a few days’ travel before they reach it. With the land having even less malevolence than it did just a little while ago, there’s little trouble from hellions, and what few they do run into, they easily fend them off with their combined prowess, even if they can never purify them.

They’ve set up camp for the night, far west from Pendrago and somewhere in the direction of the coast, she’s pretty sure, when she asks, “So just how much longer until we reach it? And what are you even showing me in the first place?”

“If I told you now, it’d ruin the surprise.” She groans, and he laughs. “It’s something I wanted to show you before, but I never got the chance to. You were always pretty busy.”

“Hm? But you were one of the shepherd’s—Rose’s?—contracted sub-lords, were you not? Surely I saw you often.”

“You had a _lot_ on your plate, I’m telling you. Even if you were a squire, you were a whole lot of other things, too. Figured I’d show you now that I had the chance to.”

She nods, thinking of his true name, and teases, “Was that one of your so-called promises?”

His grin turns flirtatious, but she simply rolls her eyes. “Nah, but it should’ve been, now that I think about it.”

“What is it then, if you don’t mind me asking? The promise.”

Zaveid stills, eyes on the endless horizon before them. For a long, long moment, Alisha thinks he won’t answer, perhaps something too private to share even with a longtime friend reincarnated, but eventually he speaks, the most quiet she’s ever heard him thus far. “You’ve got a long, long time ahead of you now, Alisha, enough that you might think it’ll last forever. But it won’t. It might not be as short or severe as humans’, but there’s an end for us all the same. And sometimes, that end isn’t pretty. You know what I mean, right?”

Malevolence. Hellions. Dragons. Even without reading, even without all the other seraphim in Elysia warning her, it was something she already knew in her heart. She might not have had the words for it, but it was something she felt with every pulse of the land. Silently, she nods. There’s no way she couldn’t known what he means.

“The promise is that I’ll say goodbye to my friends, even if they’re like that. _Especially_ if they’re like that.”

He’s still looking at the horizon when she turns her gaze on him, and she wonders just how old he is. Old enough to not remember how he came into being, at least, but how long did that mean? How many friends had he already said goodbye to in all those years?

“… It’s a sad promise,” she murmurs. “But now, you were able to say hello to a friend again instead of it ending at goodbye. Right?”

Maybe it’s an empty platitude. Maybe one friend after who knows how many lost ones doesn’t make up for it. She’d understand either way, she thinks. But before long, Zaveid’s back to grinning, fond and nostalgic all over again. “Yeah, you’re right.”

They reach the ocean the next day, and Alisha sees what must be the largest boat she’s ever seen in either of her lives.

“What is this?” she half-asks, half-laughs, eyes open wide as they try to drink in the sight of it all.

Zaveid laughs even harder, slinging an arm across her shoulders and gesturing at the boat with his free hand. “A ship! There’s a whole world beyond Glenwood. Wanna see it?”

She can’t think of anything she wants more.

●

Before, Alisha thought there was nothing more serenely beautiful than the high cliffs and rolling clouds of Elysia. Then, she believed that some of the lands beyond Glenwood were the most incredible sights she’d ever see.

The day she sets foot in Ladylake, Alisha realizes how utterly mistaken she’d been.

She’s been to bustling cities before, has seen just as many crowds of people gathered together before, but there’s _something_ in Hyland’s air, something in the way its people mingles, that has her all but dancing through the city, light on her feet as she skips between people with a smile on her face. None of them can see her, of course, and she takes care not to bump into anyone even with all of her delight, yet it doesn’t matter. Seeing the humans work hard for the day, from knights to merchants to citizens, sets her heart at ease in a way she’s never felt before. Not even the peace of Elysia felt this joyous, this lovely. She takes in the stone water wheels, takes in the fountains and banners flying about, and thinks she’s never seen a city more beautiful. This time, she’s sure it won’t be beat.

Even if the memories never carried over, the feelings stayed the same. That’s what Zaveid told her about humans who became seraphim, and all the others she’d encountered past Glenwood concurred. She wonders if as princess of Hyland, as a human, this was the way she loved Ladylake.

If so, she’s glad. In all her years, Alisha can’t think of a moment where she’s been happier than right now.

The day is nearing its end when she makes her way to the sanctuary. She explores it with her hands clasped behind her back, weaving around and about the pillars. A good number of humans come in and out, kneeling before both the stone platform and the sacred vessel up the stairs past it. It feels almost odd to see so many humans paying respect and reverence, and she realizes that she never saw half as many people in Pendrago’s shrinechurch. Perhaps in the time since she’d last been to Glenwood, the times had simply changed. As she looks at the humans here though, sees them worship and pray from the very bottom of their hearts, she likes to think that perhaps the people here were just a little different.

She walks up the stairs intending to greet and introduce herself to the Lord of the Land keeping this city so beautiful, but as she approaches the blue-haired man next to the sacred vessel, he takes one look at her and gasps.

“Lady Alisha? Could it be?”

When she thinks about it later, it’s not surprising. If she had truly been the princess of Hyland, she must’ve spent a good amount of time in its capital. And if she’d truly been a squire to the Shepherd, she must’ve met or at least known of Ladylake’s Lord of the Land. Really, it all makes sense later on.

In the present though, she can’t help but blink owlishly, tilting her head just slightly.

“Yes, that is my name… Although you needn’t address me in such a manner.”

“No, it’s just,” he starts, stops, eyes still wide in shock and maybe even awe, “I can scarcely believe it! You’ve returned to us, to Ladylake.”

Suddenly, she understands. “You knew me in my past life, didn’t you?”

As if mirroring her, some of his surprise melts away into realization. “That’s right. Of course, you must be a seraph now. The Prime Lord did say she thought it possible…”

“Is the Prime Lord not here?” Alisha cranes her head, looking for… Well, she’s not sure. The legend of the Lady of the Lake still persists even now, but she’d already seen when she first entered that the sacred sword wasn’t here.

The man shakes his head. “No. She hasn’t rested her blade here for quite some time now, not since the Shepherd Sorey drew the sword from the stone,” he says fondly, and she wonders just how far back he must be remembering. “Ah, but where are my manners? I am Uno, the Lord of the Land for Ladylake. It was you and the Shepherd Sorey who made me Lord of the Land.”

“It was? I apologize, but I don’t remember in the slightest…”

“Please, do not trouble yourself over that. I’m well aware of what happens when a human reincarnates as a seraph. Truthfully, I’m simply delighted to see you once more.”

She stays for a long while after that, just talking and chatting with Uno. He tells her about everything that’s happened in Ladylake since the end of her previous life, of its current state now, how the people have only continued to grow stronger. In a way, it almost feels like he’s giving her an update, and she wonders if this is something he did for her human self. But strangely, she doesn’t mind it at all. Despite never having set foot here before, she wants to hear more about how life in Ladylake is. The sun has long since set by the time they finish talking, and as a seraph, Alisha never thought she would become so enamored with humans’ livelihoods in one particular place. Yet here she is, wishing Uno had more to tell her.

“Thank you, Uno, for all your time today. For all your time since you first became the lord of this land,” she says, and it strikes her then that he’s spent years, decades, perhaps even a century here in just one city. Thinking back on how she wanted to explore outside of Elysia what felt like the moment she first walked through it, she wonders if this is perhaps unfair. “I hope that time has been one you’ve enjoyed though. Tell me, Uno, my words from my past life haven’t kept you trapped here when you no longer wished to remain, have they?”

He smiles easily, settling her quickening heart back to a steady beat. “Not at all, Lady Alisha. I’m quite fond of Ladylake myself. Speaking of that though, I did want to ask you—”

“Lady Alisha?”

They both turn around to see one of the priests on the staircase, likely returning to the sanctuary lodgings for the night. He stares up at her, and once again, Alisha finds herself staring into eyes wide with shock. For the first time though, the recognition comes from watery eyes set in a wrinkled face, and even with the walking cane he has, she worries that he’ll fall to the ground with how much his knees shake.

It’s not the first time she’s been seen by a human, but it’s the first time she’s been called by name from one.

“Father Caird!” Uno yells, quickly rushing to the old priest’s side. “Please, you must be careful. Should you fall again, even my healing artes may not be enough.”

The old man pays no heed though, tentatively reaching out towards Alisha. He looks back at Uno, struggling to contain his disbelief. “It’s her, is it not? She looks so much younger now, but… But I would never forget those eyes. I know they say memory fails with age, but I swear to you, Lord Uno, I would never forget those eyes!”

Smiling, Uno nods. “Yes, Father Caird. That is Lady Alisha.”

Alisha watches as the priest wipes at his eyes, and Uno helps usher the old man up the stairs. When they reach her, she doesn’t even hesitate to take his hand into hers, kneeling so that he won’t have to crane his neck to look up at her. Still, it does nothing to smother the admiration and gratitude in his eyes.

“Lady Alisha… I was but a boy when you held your last Sacred Blade Festival, but still I recall it clearly. Your face was as wrinkled as mine, but your eyes were the same as they are now—clear and bright as jewels. You told us, all of us gathered, that we would continue to grow stronger, that we would work hard to protect the peace between Hyland and Rolance. You said that you believed we would make Ladylake into a city unlike any other, more beautiful and prosperous than anything the world had ever seen, so long as we continued to respect one another and the seraphim who continued to bless us unseen. You were sure that it would happen, even if you did not live to see it for yourself.”

His hands are shaking in hers, but she knows that her hands are trembling as well.

“I can only hope that the Ladylake you’ve seen today is even a fraction of what you had hoped for us.”

Her heart is in her throat, and she has to blink back tears. The words come tumbling out before she even has time to think them, as if they’ve been meaning to spill from her lips for years. “It is! It’s far more than that! In all my time, I have never seen a city more lively and wonderful than Ladylake. From the moment I set foot here, I knew that I would never find a place dearer to me. It is all because of you and people like you, all the others living here… I cannot thank you enough for making this city as incredible as it is.”

“As always, you are too kind, Lady Alisha,” the priest chuckles softly, gripping her hands tightly. “Yours thanks are undeserved. Thank _you_ for everything you’ve done for us. You’ve given us peace, one my parents and grandparents believed to be impossible, and we will do everything in our power to make sure it lasts for generations to come. Thank you.”

Uno sees the priest to his quarters afterwards. When he comes back out, Alisha has to swallow one last lump in her throat before speaking.

“I was surprised when he called out to me. I didn’t think many humans had the resonance to see us.”

He hums in agreement, saying, “It’s been like that for a long while, yes, but as the land continues to purify, I believe humans’ resonance is slowly increasing. They no longer balk as much when someone mentions being able to see one of us.”

“I see…” She trails off. While she was always more than happy to help someone, something about this felt off, almost. She looks down and sighs, “They loved her, didn’t they?”

“They loved _you_ ,” he says pointedly, returning to stand by the sacred vessel. “And yes, they did. You were the champion of the people, perhaps for all of Hyland.”

She shakes her head. “Not anymore. Even if I was here to accept Father Caird’s gratitude… I am not the person he wanted to thank.”

“But you are, Lady Alisha,” Uno insists. “They say that for humans who reincarnate as seraphim, the memories may not remain, but the feelings always do. In you especially, I can only see it as proven true. It’s why I wanted to ask you if you wish to be the Lord of the Land for Ladylake.”

Alisha balks, mouth hanging open. “What? But—But I barely know this city! I’ve only been here a day!”

“That’s not true. Both in your human life and now, I can think of no other who loves Ladylake more than you do. Even if you’ve only been a day here, I’m sure that with a little exploring and time, you would know more about it than I could ever hope to.”

“But… I thought you said you enjoyed being here. Is that not true?”

“I would be more than happy to remain as Lord of the Land here, Lady Alisha. I simply thought that in all your love, you might wish to protect Ladylake yourself. Am I wrong?”

She opens her mouth only to close it after nothing comes out. He’s right, honestly. As sudden or strange as it is, Alisha already knows it from the bottom of her heart. She loves Ladylake, she wants to see it prosper, and if this city ever needed her, she would come to its aid without a second of hesitation, no matter where or when. For feelings to be so strong that they outlive a lifetime, carrying on over into the next without her knowledge—how could she possibly deny him and say he’s wrong?

But she thinks of the world she saw when she first opened her eyes, of how she’d yet to explore every nook and cranny from that vision, had yet to see all the lands that lied even beyond it.

Melphis Amekia knows her answer.

“No, you’re not wrong.”

“Then…?”

“Perhaps someday, I will become Lord of the Land here. To be able to protect this place and its people with my own power… Few things would make me happier, I know. But,” she sighs, smiling. “That day has not yet come. There’s still too much of the world I wish to see. I’m sorry, Uno, but I’m afraid I must decline.”

He laughs lightly and nods. “You needn’t apologize. Just know that my offer shall always stand if you wish to accept.”

She laughs as well, wiping at the corners of her eyes once more. Something in her heart swells at knowing the opportunity remains, and that one day in the future, she very well may take it.

“Thank you, Uno. Until that day comes, I would be much obliged if you continued to watch over Ladylake for me.”

“Of course. Take care, Lady Alisha.”

They bow before each other, and Alisha wastes no time in making her exit from the sanctuary and city. The ship awaits on Hyland’s part of the coast now, and there’s still so much of the world to see. From the bottom of her heart, she can’t wait to see it all.

But what she said to Father Caird was true. There isn’t a place in the world dearer to her than Ladylake.

●

When Alisha makes the trek up Rayfalke Spiritcrest, it’s more for her own peace of mind than anything else. There have been more and more human children born with the sight, enough resonance in their souls to see her like true flesh and blood. Entertaining the whimsies of toddlers and kids would’ve been easy enough, especially with so many parents just writing it off as the overactive imagination of children, but there’s also been a startling and sudden increase in the amount of humans who just wake up one day able to see her with little problem. She doesn’t resent them for it; how could she, knowing that the more humanity’s collective resonance increased, the easier it would be for humans and seraphim to coexist, for peace to truly be among them? After years and years of fascinating, idyllic, maybe-sometimes-lonely solitude though, it’s a bit overwhelming to hear humans calling out to her in the street, crowding around her and asking to see magic, or if she’ll extend her blessings, or anything like that.

All she wants to do is explore. Having so many people suddenly asking after her, pinning their hopes on her—it feels both frighteningly heavy and frighteningly familiar.

Up on the Spiritcrest though, none of that even matters. A long while ago she remembered hearing humans in Marlind whisper rumors of a dragon dwelling on the mountain, at least up until Zaveid confirmed it as actual fact—or as _outdated_ fact, anyways. When she asked him what happened to that dragon, he’d merely said that it was a story for another time, and that at the very least, he knew for sure there were no more dragons taking up residence there.

“There’s someone there making sure it doesn’t happen again,” he’d said easily, leaning against the boat as he stared out towards the sea. “You’ll get what I’m saying if you ever go.”

In all honesty, even while climbing up the path, Alisha doesn’t remember what Zaveid told her. Not until she reaches the halfway point marked by a small shrine and feels a very sudden, very startling notion that she’d just stepped foot in a place where she’s unwelcome.

It’s like waking up on Elysia all over again, but this time the sudden knowledge alarms her rather than puts her at ease.

This mountain is someone’s domain, and whoever it belongs to, that person doesn’t want anyone stepping foot here, no matter who or what they are. A domain like this is meant to keep out malevolence and hellions first and foremost, but even as a fellow seraph, Alisha can feel that her presence is unwanted. As pillars of rock sprout before her, towering easily over her height, she realizes her error in coming here unprepared.

“I swear I mean no harm!” she calls out, hands raised and empty. It wouldn’t be hard to materialize her spear. At this point, calling for her blade is as second nature to her as breathing. But that’s not what she’s here for; she just wants to relax, and this situation is anything but relaxing. “You have my word!”

“Do you think I’d have something like a domain set up if I believed the word of every single person stupid enough to come up wandering here for fun?”

Just past the series of rock pillars, Alisha can barely make out the form of a petite young woman, her back turned and parasol twirling over her shoulder. An earth seraph probably, and the lord of this land at that.

The girl speaks harshly, but it’s not as if she can deny it. With rumors of a dragon living here still thriving, she can only imagine how much this mountain has weathered from visitors. But that doesn’t mean she has to submit to her words either. “Please, I bring with me no trouble. I simply wanted to rest here.”

“Rest?” the girl scoffs, parasol still perched on her shoulder but finally turning around. “Then you sure picked a lousy place to take a bre—”

Without the parasol obscuring her way, Alisha can see her. The girl’s even more petite than she realized, the parasol only exacerbating her short height. Finally, the rock pillars sink back into the earth, and the girl’s tiny image increases ten fold as her oversized boots come into view. Still, with a white sundress hanging to her knees and her blonde hair lying across her shoulder in a braid, Alisha thinks she’s looks more young than dainty. Just barely, she sees the girl’s single gloved hand grip her parasol tighter.

Alisha stares blankly back at her, blinking at the earth seraph’s widened eyes, until it hits her.

Oh boy.

“Alisha.” It’s not a question, and it’s not a joyous exclamation either. Somehow, the girl manages to make baffled surprise sound as flat as possible.

“Yes, that’s right. And you must be someone I… That I knew,” she starts, mentally reviewing every seraphim Zaveid had said she’d run into. Considering how biting every word the girl says is, she briefly recalls mention of someone named Symonne, but looking at the earth seraph before her, she’s decidedly not purple enough. “Edna?”

Thinking of everyone she’d heard of, Alisha knows she must be right, but with how Edna narrows her eyes, it still feels as if she got something wrong. She twirls her parasol again as she walks towards her. “Obviously. But you’re taking this surprisingly well. Who else did you run into?”

“Zaveid. I haven’t run into … I haven’t met anyone else from the group yet,” she settles for, the suggestion of familiarity uncomfortable on her tongue.

Edna snorts, and Alisha has to hold back a laugh. It’s not hard to imagine why she’d react like that. “Figures you’d meet the biggest idiot first. So, what did you mean rest? There isn’t exactly a comfy bed for you here.”

“I know that, but I’d wanted to be alone for a little while, and I’d yet to see this place.”

“Alone? We’re always alone. Kind of comes with the whole ‘can’t be seen by humans’ thing.”

“It’s all rather strange to me as well, but…” Alisha looks at Edna with her blank expression and quirked eyebrow and wonders just how long it’s been since she’s set foot off this mountain. “Edna, when was the last time you went to the world below?”

She shrugs, closing up her parasol and leaning on it. “I dunno. A couple centuries maybe? Lailah tries to keep me updated on what’s going on down there whenever she visits, but it’s been a while since she’s stopped by. She’s gonna freak when she finds out you’re back, you know.”

Alisha nods, thinking Zaveid had said something similar. That they’d all be so happy to see her again, whenever they eventually crossed paths. Seeing Edna yawn into her hand, it’s hard to imagine that this is what being happy looks like for her, but she’s not sure if that’s better or worse. Trying to imagine these past acquaintances, ‘friends’ she couldn’t even put a face to, all leaping for joy just by seeing her felt… Odd. More expectations being placed on her again. She looks at Edna again, her bored expression, and her chest tightens when she wonders if perhaps she’s a disappointment compared to the previous Alisha, her past self.

“… In any case, that explains it. There are many humans on Glenwood now who can see us. Most of them are children, but humans of all ages often approach me in towns and cities. It’s simply been a little… overwhelming, I suppose, after being unseen for so long.”

Edna’s raised eyebrow only rises further, and her lips turn up into something decidedly unkind. “So you were getting tired of being treated like a spectacle and ran off to get away from all those annoying earth-dwellers. Does that sound about right?”

“… Have you always been like this?”

The earth seraph cants her head and asks innocently, “Like what?”

The light seraph’s stare only goes flatter. “You know exactly what I’m speaking of.”

Edna blinks, innocuously silent. Then she laughs, a light puff of air past her lips, and smiles. Alisha might even call it warm. “You really must be a seraph if you’re not cowering in respect every time I say something. I think I might actually like this new you.

“Did you not like me before?” As much as it ultimately doesn’t matter to Alisha now, the idea that one of her former companions might not have actually liked her past self somehow stings.

“Still as sensitive as ever though,” Edna says with a roll of her eyes, but her tone isn’t cold. “You were always real respectful of us seraphim, which was pretty good for a human, but you never had any backbone. I’m pretty sure that half the dumb stuff I got you to do only happened because you were too scared and respectful to call me out on it, even though you knew I was messing with you.”

Alisha recalls Zaveid telling her that Edna played pranks and messed around with just about everyone in their little group.

Everyone.

“Do I even _want_ to know what you’d have me do before?”

Edna smirks. “We’ll go over the Squirrelcarena another time.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” she sighs, folding her arms.

“Huh. This really might be a nice change of pace.” She picks up her parasol, opening it back up and twirling it on her shoulder again. “Well, come on. Let’s get going.”

“Hm? Go where?”

“The rest of the way up to the Spiritcrest, _duh_. If you wanna rest here, might as well take it easy at the spot with the best view, not that there’s much to see here,” Edna says lightly, casually, as if she hadn’t be ready to launch Alisha off the mountain entirely just a few moments ago.

Alisha wonders if she felt as exasperated by Edna in her previous life as she does now. “Very well. Lead the way.”

There really isn’t much to see the further up Rayfalke they go, but Alisha soaks in everything regardless. Despite being similarly high up, the mountain shares little of the beauty Elysia had, no lush cliffsides standing among blue skies and rolling clouds. The Spiritcrest is stark and gloomy in comparison, every patch of earth a dull and dark brown. When Alisha looks out past the mountain, all she can see is thin white clouds set against the colorless sky, extending as far as the eye can see. Marlind shouldn’t be so difficult to see from here, but she can’t even make out the green of grass this high up. As they get closer to the top, she’s struck by the sudden thought that she has no idea how long the fall from up here would be.

It’s not beautiful, no, but there’s something awe-inspiring all the same. Maybe even terrifying. Dragon or no, she can understand why people would think there’s one here.

The top of the mountain is absolutely barren save for a single grave marker, a few flowers laid before it. Alisha instantly understands who it is that rests here.

“That’s Eizen, isn’t it?”

Edna shrugs, but her parasol hangs just a bit lower than before. “Metaphorically, anyways. I guess you wouldn’t remember, but he’d been gone for ages before I ever set this up. This just made it more official.”

“You must’ve been lonely,” she replies, only for Edna to roll her eyes and huff.

“Oh, please. I’m used to being alone. You should be too, if you’re a seraph.” She turns around and walks past Alisha, the back of her parasol the only thing she can see of her now. For a moment, she wonders if Edna simply means to leave her here until the earth seraph stops in her place, voice uncharacteristically quiet compared to every word exchanged thus far.

“But I _am_ glad to see you again, Alisha. Really.”

When she turns back to face her, Edna greets her with the same bored and unimpressed look she’s sported the entire conversation. Somehow, it already feels familiar to Alisha.

She smiles, wide and bright.

“I think I’m glad to see you again as well, Edna.”

Edna smiles ever so slightly, almost looking fond. “‘Alisha the Smiling,’ right? Yeah, you haven’t changed a bit.”

●

For a long while, the Prime Lord remains something of a mystery to Alisha.

Her title was respectable, surely. To be granted the flames of purification from Maotelus, a seraph who seemed more myth and legend than reality even to a fellow seraph like herself, was no small thing. Surely only someone of great, noble character would be worthy of such an honor.

Her personality seemed… Less so. Asking Zaveid and Edna about her had only given her comments such as “a total babe” (Zaveid) and “a total airhead” (Edna). She seemed like an interesting person, to say the least, albeit maybe someone she questioned being the Prime Lord. No matter what though, both had insisted that it was best to just wait until she met Lailah herself to form any firm opinions. It was understandable, of course, even if she wished they’d tell her more substantial information about her, along with the other members of their former group she’d yet to meet.

The day she finally meets Lailah, any vague idea she’d had about the fire seraph goes out the window.

“Alisha? Is that you?”

Deep in the Weylish Ruins, Alisha hadn’t expected to run into anyone, let alone anyone that would call her by name. She turns to see a woman with floor-length white hair slack-jawed, her sea-glass green eyes almost comically wide.

Strangely, it’s become a familiar expression. Alisha has no idea who this woman is, but she isn’t all too surprised by what comes next.

“Oh, Alisha! It really is you!” the woman cries, running and flinging herself to wrap Alisha in her arms. The fire seraph cries whole-heartedly, smiling widely even as tears pour down her face. It almost makes her feel bad that she doesn’t know this woman well enough to reciprocate her joy even a little.

“Yes, it is,” she replies awkwardly, unsure if she should try to do something like pat her on the back or just continue to let her arms remain pinned at her sides in the woman’s embrace. “I take it that you’re… Lailah, right? The Prime Lord?”

Lailah stills, pulls back to look her in the eyes, and immediately goes sheepish, taking her hands back to clutch her face. “O-Oh, of course! Please forgive me, I was just so happy to see you, I… Honestly, you’d think I’d have remembered something like that, but I suppose not. I hope I didn’t startle you too much.”

She laughs lightly, shaking her head. The fact that this honestly _didn’t_ startle her all that much was both funny and almost sad in its own way.

“No, it’s quite alright. I think I’m sort of used to this, in any case.”

This time it’s Lailah who laughs, her giggle a light trill behind her hand. “So I’ve heard. In due time, I’m sure you’ll have met all of us once more.”

“I certainly have the time to, at least, given that—” she stops, blinking. For all the build up she’s heard about Lailah, it’s certainly turning out to be a bit anticlimactic. “Wait, you know I’ve met some of the others already?”

“Zaveid was rather happy to share the story. He said it was the first time he’d taken any of us aboard the Van Eltia. I imagine Mikleo will be quite envious when he finds out.”

They laugh together, and Alisha feels remarkably at ease while talking to Lailah. Meeting Zaveid and Edna had been interesting of course, and she took to being friends with them rather quickly, but she can’t recall feeling so immediately comfortable speaking with them like she does with Lailah. For once, she feels as if she’s talking to a well-known friend rather than a sociable stranger or awkward acquaintance. She almost asks what she’s been up to since meeting Zaveid and hearing about her, or even since her human life ended, until she hears another voice call out from behind them.

“Lailah? Did you find what you were looking for?”

Alisha turns around to find a young human girl with short black hair and eyes like sapphire, but that’s not what catches her eye the most. She’s seen enough murals in ruins to understand what the white cloak around her shoulder is, what the symbol on her glove marks her as. The girl approaches them casually, gaze curious when it moves from her traveling companion to a stranger. By the time she reaches the two of them, Alisha bows before her.

After all, she’s standing before the Shepherd.

“Young Shepherd,” she greets, standing up straight once more. “It is an honor to meet you.”

The girl flushes, quickly bowing back as she stammers, “O-Oh no, the honor’s all mine! I’m not so great a Shepherd you have to bow to me or anything.”

Lailah chuckles and moves to place her hands on the young girl’s shoulders, not-so-subtly nudging her forward. “Alisha, this is the current Shepherd, Fiona. And Fiona, this is my friend Alisha. Goodness though, I never expected to run into you here of all places.”

“Really? If you ran into Zaveid, I’m sure he must’ve mentioned how I’ve been traveling.” Alisha looks back at Fiona, silent but looking rather interested in the conversation. “Why don’t we continue this talk back in town? This is hardly the place for a lengthy discussion.”

“Yeah! We can always come back again, right Lailah?”

The fire seraph nods, and as much as Alisha still wants to explore the rest of the ruins, she knows there’s a lot to talk about. They head to Pendrago and book a room at the inn for the night, but from the moment they leave the ruins till Fiona’s efforts at not falling asleep fail, they talk. Alisha asks Lailah about what she’s done, how she’s seen the land change, while Lailah asks her about the sights she’s seen and the places she’s been to. It feels more like catching up with an old friend than asking a stranger about their life, and it’s a comfortable feeling. The Shepherd learns more about world geography in the span of a single conversation than most people do in their entire lives, but she listens with rapt interest regardless. Still, while Alisha finds sleeping to be enjoyable in its own way, it’s not necessary the way it is for Fiona; try as she might, long into the night and after what feels like ages of talking, the young girl finally drifts off to sleep.

“She’s very kind,” she says while Lailah pulls up Fiona’s blanket over her. “How long have you two been contracted?”

“I believe it’s been around half a year now. She still doesn’t see herself as much in the role, but I believe she’s made a wonderful Shepherd thus far.”

“I’m surprised you’ve kept track of the time so clearly, honestly. I never thought it would be difficult to simply count the days as they pass by, but lately, it feels as if months slip by without my realizing it.”

Lailah laughs softly, shaking her head. “It’s the same for all seraphim, I would think. Traveling with humans has always reminded me to be more aware of how the days pass. Time passes so differently for them, after all. It was the same with you, you know.”

“With me?”

“With your past self, I mean.” She smiles, but her brows are too knit together to call it happy. “I always try to keep the difference in mind, but that day I came back to Ladylake only to find you near your end, I was so surprised. I always thought there would be more time.”

Alisha wonders, but honestly, she can hardly fathom it. To her, there’s always been nothing _but_ time. Even just hearing of her past life from others, she knew it was about as opposite as it could get for Alisha Diphda, the knight princess always trying to squeeze more hours into the day to try and get everything necessary done. That person must have always been aware of the hours ticking by, the days rolling into months then years.

“It’s fine, really. I don’t think I can really speak for my past self, but I believe she must have been happy with the time she already had,” she says, smiling softly. “She sounded very efficient with how she spent it, if nothing else.”

The fire seraph chuckles softly behind her hand, careful not to wake Fiona up. “You’re right. I suppose even after all this time, I still haven’t gotten used to it, but you’re right. You didn’t have any regrets, even when you passed on.”

“But you were right too, weren’t you? Believing that I would reincarnate even when I myself didn’t think so.”

“You didn’t have any regrets, that much is true, but evidently there was still something you wanted to do. I believe it was a wish so great that even you didn’t realize how much you wanted it,” Lailah murmurs, voice going quiet as she looks down into her hands. When she looks back up and at her, for the first time, Alisha sees her as the Prime Lord. “There’s something I wanted to ask you, Alisha.”

She nods slowly, unsure of what to expect. “Of course. What is it?”

“Would you be willing to contract with Fiona and become my sub-lord?”

Alisha stills in her seat. It would be an honor, surely, to lend her power to the Shepherd. In fact, it would probably line up with what she wants to do herself quite nicely; it’s not as if the Shepherd could guide humanity simply by staying in one place, so she’d still be able to travel and explore. As much as she was used to traveling on her own, it had been a long time since she traveled with someone else. She missed having friends by her side as she explored, of being able to talk to someone instead of just talking to herself. Really, there isn’t much reason for her to _not_ agree.

She opens her mouth, and the easy “Of course,” gets lodged in her throat.

What comes out instead is, “Why? Do you need my help?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing so dire as that!” Lailah says, waving her hands and turning back into the silly pun-loving seraph she’s come to find familiar. “Of course, I will always welcome your presence and assistance regardless of the situation. In fact, with times as they are now, it’s not as important as it used to be. Things aren’t like back when we traveled together, and for the better… No, it has nothing to do with that.”

Her head tilts. “Then what is it?”

“It’s just…” she begins, eyes briefly looking aside as she draws her hands together. She looks back at her and continues, “I remember how much you had wanted to travel with us, with both Sorey and Rose, but you were never able to. Not the way you wanted to. If it wasn’t resonance, it was business with Hyland or Rolance, and while I know you didn’t regret your work there, I also know how much it disappointed you, not being able to come with us. But now, you could come with us so easily!” _Just like you always wanted_ goes unsaid, but Alisha sees it in the apologetic look in Lailah’s eyes. “All you would have to do is become my sub-lord. So… Will you?”

Ah. Now she understands why she didn’t— _couldn’t_ —say yes.

“I appreciate your offer, Lailah, truly. But…”

She sighs, hands tightening in her lap.

“But I am _not_ Alisha Diphda. It’s too late to give that girl what she wanted.”

Perhaps one day, she’ll feel inspired rather than burdened by comparisons to her past life. Having only just met Lailah, she can’t really blame her for seeing a dead girl in her place either. It’s still not a feeling she likes, no matter how many times it happens.

The Prime Lord lets out a breath, looking down at her hands with a sad smile as she murmurs, “You’re right. I’m sorry, Alisha. That was unfair of me to ask you.”

“It’s alright. For what it’s worth, if my past self was the person you’ve all painted her to be, then I’m sure she was happy with what she’d done already, even if that didn’t include traveling with you all as much as she wanted to,” she replies easily, smiling.

Lailah looks back up, and this time, her smile is full and content.

“Yes, I believe so as well. So, what will you do now?”

“I still intend to travel, of course, but you and the Shepherd still need to find something in the Weylish Ruins, correct?”

The other woman nods, and she continues. “Then I don’t see why we can’t go together.”

Lailah barely contains her squeal when she rushes to embrace her again, and Alisha has to hold back some of her own laughter in the bone-crushing hug.

It’s been too long since she’s had someone to travel with, but she wants this journey to happen on her own terms.

●

They’re at a cliffside overlooking the sea in Rolance when Alisha sees it. A single grave marker with a name carved in, few other decorations etched into the stone. With a gentle breeze blowing through the grass and flowers that surround it, she can see why the grave remains unadorned.

“Thank you, Lailah, for showing me the way,” she says, and the fire seraph simply smiles in kind.

“Please, you needn’t thank me for such a thing. I’m sure she wanted to see you again, as well.” Ahead of them, Fiona bows before the grave, quick but respectful, before turning towards Lailah again. “We shall be on our way now. Take care, Alisha.”

“The same to you. Until we meet again.”

Alisha sees them off, but before long, she’s left in front of the grave of someone she doesn’t even know. She takes a seat in front of it, crossing her legs on a decidedly unusual impulse of wanting to be—relaxed. Casual, even. It’s hard to feel relaxed when she has no idea what she’s doing here though. She’d asked Lailah for the location of Rose’s grave, feeling she ought to go and see it the way she’s come to see just about everyone else she knew in her former life, but the longer she sits and the longer she looks at it, the more she comes to understand that no matter what everyone tells her, no matter how much they say she hasn’t changed, she still knows nothing of what she was like as a human.

Maybe it was presumptuous to think she’d feel something just from sitting here when she didn’t know the first thing about Rose the Shepherd, lying six feet beneath this stone in the slumber of true death and not some kind of continental purification.

“You’re making this rather difficult, you know,” she sighs at the tombstone. It’s silly and maybe even disrespectful to be grumbling at a dead person, yet in a way, it’s almost—familiar. Like being frustrated at Rose is what she’s used to.

Somehow, it makes her smile.

“I don’t know you,” she begins, and once she starts she finds that suddenly, it’s hard to stop, “and from what the others have told me, I don’t know if I _ever_ knew you. Edna said we were always either the best of friends or the worst of enemies, but I don’t understand how someone could squire for a person they felt like they were the worst of enemies with in the first place. Every story shared involving you is like hearing of two completely different relationships. We were either laughing together like childhood friends or at each others’ throats—literally—like bitter, sworn enemies. I definitely don’t understand it now, and I have a feeling I didn’t understand it then either. Really, I can’t even tell if we were friends.”

The grave, predictably, is silent, and the breeze remains as gentle as ever. There’s no one to hear Alisha’s complaints. That still doesn’t stop her.

“Yet here I am, talking with your tombstone. After all this time, I suppose it doesn’t matter if we were friends or not. I don’t even know what you look like, but I still felt the need to come here, just to… Do this. Just to yell at you, it seems. Maybe I missed being able to do that.”

She laughs, high and clear, all too aware at how ridiculous this all is. But despite spending the last while talking to a piece of rock, she feels happy. Even without having done much of anything, she’s glad that she came here.

Alisha stands up, dusting off the grass and dirt from her skirt. Looking back down on the tombstone, she brushes the dust off it as well. She leaves her hand on it for a moment, smiling, wondering if in whatever afterlife there is for humans, Rose is laughing at her for being so silly as well. She can’t even picture what the other girl might look like, but it’s somehow easy to imagine her doing that.

“Goodbye, Rose. I’ll come by again the next time I feel like yelling.”

It’s a terrible reason for anyone to go anywhere, but Alisha thinks it suits the two of them just fine.

● 

“Still haven’t gone down to Camlann?”

Alisha looks up at Edna, blinking, then back down to where her feet dangle over the cliffside. Elysia is still just as beautiful as she remembers, even after ages have passed since her last visit. It still feels as if all she has to do is reach out to touch the sky, brush her hand against the clouds. The same couldn’t be said about the village itself though, and after she’d run into one of the seraphim from Elysia asking her if she could help with stabilizing the old stone houses, she asked Edna to help her as well.

The fact that even after all this time, everyone in Elysia still chooses to live in houses like humans even with no humans around strikes her as odd, but it’s reassuring, too. Some things truly never changed. Of all the things that could remain the same forever, she hopes Elysia is one of them.

“No,” she says, kicking her legs against the cliffside. “Not yet.”

Above her, Edna twirls her parasol. “Why not? There’s nothing stopping you from seeing him this time.”

She laughs lightly. “You know I don’t remember ‘last time’ to begin with, right?”

“Just checking,” the earth seraph shrugs, closing her parasol before taking a seat beside her. She waves a hand at her, and Alisha obligingly scoots over with a sigh. Edna eyes her carefully, then shifts her gaze out towards the horizon. “… It might be nice if you did though. I think he’d like it.”

“I still don’t even know who he _is_ ,” she groans, flopping onto her back. The sky stretches above her as endlessly as ever, but this time, she’s not sure heart feels as clear.

“Sure you do, even if you don’t remember. But being slow _was_ always one of your specialties.” Alisha lifts her head only to see Edna stick her tongue out at her. She rolls her eyes anyways. “Let me put it this way—you’re still as much of an adventure and ruin junkie as ever. Why _wouldn’t_ you go check out Camlann? That place is chock full of the stuff Meebo loves to gush over.”

“Who?”

“Answer the question.”

She closes her eyes. With the earth at her back and the grass shifting in the wind to tickle her face, it should be easy to feel at peace. But whenever she thinks of the Origin Village, a place she’s never even seen before, she can’t help but feel sad. “… I don’t know. It’s true that I’ve thought about exploring there on more than one occasion, but something never feels right about it. Like I’m not yet meant to go there.”

“You remember him,” Edna smirks. “Told you.”

“If you insist,” she huffs, brows drawn together. Every time she sees one of the others, this boy and her lack of memory of him never fails to come up. She wonders how they manage to not be sick of it.

Even now, all she wants to do is explore.

“Well, whether you care about Sorey or not, I know for sure you care about seeing that rinky dink village at least. You’ll go when you’re ready.”

“And just when will that be? I’d much rather go _now_.”

Edna laughs, and Alisha can’t help but crack a smile too. “Relax, Alisha. You’ve got all the time in the world to do what you want. Slow things down for a bit, will you?”

And even after all this time, so much that she could never hope to keep track of it all, that’s still what surprises her the most. Time.  Seraphim aren’t invulnerable and immortal, and she’s always kept that fact in mind, but the _potential_ is still there. Knowing that she has eternity in the palm of her hand, and that she could fulfill whatever heart’s desire she has with it.

Melphis Amekia doesn’t know if her last life was a good one or not, what regrets she might have had, but she knows that this life won’t have any.

She’ll make sure of it.

 ●

Later on, once enough time has passed that nostalgia can color the memory into something better than it was, Alisha thinks of it as the funniest of her re-meetings with the others.

In the present, after crashing into a beautiful man with long wavy hair with her geo board and collapsing into a heap of tangled limbs, blinding each other with their massive amounts of hair, she thinks it’s the most embarrassing thing to have ever occurred in her long, long life.

Maneuvering the geo board, her newest souvenir after her last sail on the Van Eltia with Zaveid, had been easy in the desert. With sand stretching as far as the eye could see and only scattered rock formations disturbing it, she’d enjoyed speeding up through the sand, twisting and winding her way through the rocks as if she could wind-step. That speed hadn’t worked out so well in the long winding passages of Lohgrin though. Her previously exciting swiftness turned into terror as she failed to narrow her turn, sending her crashing into the person unlucky enough to be standing right by the edge of the stairs.

Afterwards, Edna would tell her that it was for the better. If her geo board crashed into the wall instead, it probably wouldn’t have survived the damage. Slamming into his pliable, baby-faced body protected it from the worst.

Mikleo wouldn’t appreciate it.

She blows some air out, trying to get the hair in her lips out and unable to move her arms, and manages, “Oh, I’m so sorry! It was an accident, I really didn’t mean to just, well— Here, let me—” she all but babbles, trying to untangle herself from the mess she’s made, until she realizes that the man beneath her hasn’t made a single sound since she crashed into him. In fact, she’s not sure he’s even _breathed_ since they fell, he’s lying so perfectly still, it’s as if she’d crashed into a statue rather than a person. Panic bubbles in her chest, and she untangles herself even faster. “Hey, are you alright?! If you can hear me, please—”

“Alisha.”

It’s not a question, and it’s calm, but Alisha doesn’t think she’s ever heard anyone sound so utterly stunned. Finally pulling herself free of the mess, she looks down at her crash victim and finds eyes the color of lilacs blown almost impossible wide, a golden circlet peaking through his bangs. They’re details and notes she’s all heard time and time before, even though she still doesn’t recognize the supposedly familiar particulars in the least. Still, it’s not hard to make a guess at who this is.

“Mikleo.”

He blinks, like waking up and realizing that the reality before him isn’t actually a dream, and before she realizes it, she’s the one falling over as he launches up to embrace her, the sudden weight pushing her back and dragging him with her to the floor once more.

“Alisha! It really is you, I,” he sniffles, and for the first time Alisha realizes that he’s actually _crying_ , tears streaming down his face even as laughter bubbles past his throat, “I can’t believe it! After all this time, it’s really you!”

If she thought Lailah’s hug was bone crushing before, it’s nothing compared to the water seraph’s. She can barely lift her arms to rest her hands on his back, returning the hug as best she can, perhaps a bit awkwardly. No matter how she tries or how much she may want to, it’s hard to return the sentiment of longing to see someone for ages when she doesn’t know them in the slightest. But unbidden, the words come tumbling out, “It’s good to see you again, Mikleo.”

Her voice sounds choked even to her own ears.

They make their way to the top of the tower together in silence, too much to say but without the right words to say it, and after they shoulder its heavy wooden door open, an immense stone tablet and garden of flowers greet her. The place has long since ceased to be a village and settlement for humans, and looking at the desert it was in, it was no surprise that it met its end. The fact that such a beautiful garden managed to weather past the harsh weather is nothing less than delightful to her. She’s so enthralled by the beauty of the tower’s inner chambers that she almost doesn’t notice the way Mikleo watches her. Amazed, warm, joyous, but even a little wary—as if he’s reluctantly expecting to wake up from a happy dream.

“Is there something on my face?” she asks lightly, trying to tease but voice too thick with joy to make it work properly. It’s almost a little unnerving, how little she understands it but how sure she is of it regardless—how glad she is to see him.

“No, it’s not that. Just—” he stops himself, sighing into a laugh. “I still can’t believe you’re here again. Even after the others told me, I wasn’t sure what to think.”

“When did you run into them?” She thinks of the last time she saw Zaveid or Edna or Lailah, or even any of the other times she saw them, and wonders what they could’ve told Mikleo about her. Most of their encounters and times together would make for pleasant stories, she’s pretty sure.

Well, discounting the time Zaveid dragged her into “babe hunting” only for them to have the misfortune of crossing paths with Symonne, but that was another story for another time.

He hums in thought for a moment, eventually settling with, “It was a while back. I can’t really remember how long ago it was honestly. But after they told me you were exploring the land, I tried looking for you.”

“You thought you’d run into me during some ruins exploration, right?” she asks with a laugh, and he smiles back at her.

“Did you try that too?”

She nods, taking a seat against the stone wall. Mikleo follows her, leaning against it as he listens. “I don’t know if I could say I really _looked_ for you when I had no idea what you looked like, but… After hearing from the others that you were also exploring ruins, I wondered if we would eventually run into each other. Sometimes, while in some ancient cavern or another, I think I hoped that I would find you there.”

The water seraph laughs, shaking his head. “It figures that it would come true only after who knows how many centuries.”

“It’s better late than never, isn’t it? Besides, I’d say there are some benefits to it.” She nudges his leg with her elbow. “You _must_ tell me about everything you’ve seen on your journeys! What kind of sights have you seen? Where have you been to? What have you discovered? I want to hear all about it!”

“What about you,” he asks, gesturing at the geo board between them. “I’ve been wondering since you crashed into me with it, but what _is_ this thing anyways? Some new kind of vehicle for humans?”

“Oh, this? I wouldn’t exactly call it new, but it is a vehicle humans invented for faster travel,” she explains, thinking back on when she first saw the object outside of Glenwood. Honestly, it’s actually almost hard to remember that far back.

Mikleo hums in thought and appreciation, looking closer at the board again. “Is it from Lastonbell? Ladylake? I can’t remember ever seeing anything like those in the cities, but it’s been a while since I last went in the first place.”

“No, it’s not from either of those. In fact, it’s not even from Glenwood.” Mikleo folds his arms and tilts his head, and understanding begins to dawn on her. Slowly she says, “It’s from outside the continent.”

He blinks, then he balks, and when he shouts, Alisha finds out the hard way that circling, towering stone walls make for very impressive acoustics.

“You’ve been outside of Glenwood?!”

“Yes…” she trails off, blinking back. When she thinks about it, it probably shouldn’t be so surprising. Seraphim as a whole seemed rather sedentary. In all of Elysia, she could think of maybe a grand total of three seraphim that had traveled farther than Aroundight Forest. Still, none of that comes to mind when she cautiously asks, “You haven’t?”

Mikleo slumps against the wall and slides down into sitting, groaning into his arms. She didn’t think he would be so competitive about it. “I have at _least_ an entire century on you, and you still beat me to leaving Glenwood. Incredible.”

While she’d heard all about how much he—and Sorey—had loved ruins and exploring, something about his reaction rubs her the wrong way. She almost bristles when she asks, “You’re not _upset_ , are you?”

“No, not at all,” he laughs, and when he smiles, she realizes how foolish she was to misunderstand like that. With an expression like that, it’s hard to imagine Mikleo begrudging anyone of anything. “I really mean it when I say that it’s incredible. _You’re_ incredible. I can’t deny that I’m envious, but that just means I have to work harder to catch up to you. It’s exciting, honestly!”

She bumps him shoulder-to-shoulder, smiling. “You make it sound as if you’ve done nothing! Please, tell me, where have you been exploring? What have you seen from the _Celestial Record_?”

“The _Celestial Record_?”

“Yes! I know you’ve read it as well, and I know you’ve been to at least some of the locations mentioned in it. Have you been anywhere else mentioned?”

“Oh, I have, it’s just…” he trails off, and now he’s the one who looks like he’s suddenly realizing something. “I’ve already seen everything mentioned in the _Celestial Record_.”

She blinks.

“You have?”

“Yeah.”

“ _Everything_?”

“Everything mentioned, and a number of places not even in there. I’m pretty confident I’ve seen just about all of Glenwood, actually.”

Alisha can’t blame him for sounding competitive anymore. Not when she realizes she’s exactly the same.

“I can’t believe you’ve already seen all of Glenwood.” She slumps her head against the wall, shocked and disappointed in herself but nothing less than impressed. “I’d say _I’m_ the one who has some catching up to do!”

Mikleo laughs, patting her on the shoulder. “Let’s just call it even then. Between the two of us, we’ll have a _lot_ to tell Sorey about, whether we catch up to each other or not.”

Sorey. It was something she’d never told the others, but despite knowing his situation, she often thought of him the same way she thought of Rose. Young humans turned Shepherds, brave and brash hearts laid to rest ages before she ever set eyes upon the world. People she never even knew. He wasn’t dead like Rose, not truly, but after a life of centuries upon centuries without ever once meeting him, without even knowing what he looked like, the fact that he was merely sleeping never sprang to her mind immediately.

She feels guilty. After all, it’s only due to his efforts that she can explore like this, with little fear or worry of malevolence to hold her back. Even in densely human-populated cities like Pendrago and Ladylake, malevolence has never been so present as to actually harm her.

“You’ve been waiting a long time for him, haven’t you?”

“I have,” he murmurs. She can only imagine how long and lonely that’s been, but when she looks at him with his calm smile and flushed cheeks, she knows he’s sure that Sorey will wake up, and that’s more than enough for him. He turns to her with that same sure look and asks, “You have been too, right?”

Alisha wants to be honest and say that no, she hasn’t been waiting for Sorey all this time. How could she be when the only things she knew about him came from second-hand stories and memories, recalling and nostalgia that were inevitably warped when put through the tests of time? Seraphim might be long-lived creatures, but that didn’t mean they had the perfect memory to remember every moment of their lives, not when that time could span thousands and thousands of years. The Sorey she barely knew of wasn’t even really Sorey—just the put together image of him, as lovingly detailed and crafted possible, but still far from the real person. How could she say she’d been waiting for him when that was all she had to wait for?

But then she thinks of when she was first born, overlooking the world from Elysia. Despite it being maybe close to a thousand years ago, she still remembers as clear as day when she’d been asked if she was Sorey’s friend. She remembers staring back blankly but holding onto the name for years and years and years, long before she ever learned of her past life, that she even _had_ a past life to begin with. She remembers saying the name aloud, rolling the syllables and testing the sounds, wondering why it had felt so dearly important, like something to be treasured.

She didn’t understand back then. Even now, she still doesn’t think she knows why.

“Yes,” she eventually settles for, and the moment the word leaves her tongue, she realizes it’s truer than she thought. She smiles from the bottom of her heart, brilliantly. “I hope he wakes up soon.”

●

Despite Mikleo’s and Lailah’s separate offers to show her around Camlann—the former often traveling there to see its single sleeping resident himself, and the latter sounding more than just nostalgic or sad regarding the village itself—Alisha goes there alone without telling anyone. None of the others can remember how old they are anymore, and neither can she. After the first few centuries or so, keeping track of the years suddenly seemed pointless. She’s a little tired of them treating her like a child, like she’s still a fledgling seraph.

The village is beautiful, honestly. Only a few vestiges of human settlements remain, vines and other plants having long since taken over the buildings for themselves, but wildflowers blanket the land as far as the eye can see. Save for a pillar of light off in the distance, she feels as if it was Elysia or Ladylake she was standing in. Somehow, she amost feels like she’s at home. Like she’s meant to be here.

It’s hard to picture the place drenched in malevolence, the sky a sickly purple and red with Artorius’ Throne looming like a herald of doom the way the others had described.

On the other hand, she supposes that she wouldn’t have known either way.

In some ways, she sees the mistake she made in taking so long to come. If she’d gone back when Edna had suggested it to her, there would’ve been a lot more to see from the village itself. As it stood, most of the ruin exploring would have to happen when she left; after coming through Mt. Mabinogio Ruins’ entrance near Elysia, a place she’d walked and ran and jumped and explored through more times than she could count, she was looking forward to taking Elaine Ruins’ exit instead. Heading towards the great light past the sea of grass and flowers, she wonders if that’s where Artorius’ Throne once stood, or if there were any remnants of it left at the light. Even after all the description from the others and books she’d read, she wishes she could’ve seen it for herself.

But it was also where a Lord of Calamity was defeated. Seeing the beauty that came to replace it, she’s much happier to see the flowers instead.

She takes her time exploring the area, feeling light and bright just breathing in Camlann. The rest of the continent hardly felt malevolent or impure, but the closer she got to the pillar of light, the more obvious it became. This was where that purification came from in the first place. When she reaches it, she’s not surprised to find flowers still decorating the ground, right up to the edge where the cliff drops off.

And looking out from the edge, she’s also not surprised to find that she can’t see the bottom. It’s too far down, and the light is all-encompassing. Still, even without knowing its depths or what it holds, she can’t find it in her heart to call it an abyss. Basking in its light, feeling it continue to purify the land with every beat of her heart, she knows enough about it to understand there’s nothing to fear.

Besides, in a way, she knows what is at the bottom. Sorey, the others’ former Shepherd, her supposed former friend, sleeping the years away.

She looks down into the light, wishing she could see this boy herself, and wonders why it is that she still doesn’t remember him.

“Hello?” she calls down, hearing the echo bounce off the edges of the cliff. Talking to oneself was apparently strange for humans, but it felt good to hear something aside from the silence of nature every once in a while. With how often they were alone, she couldn’t imagine any seraph not saying a single word aloud to themselves. “Hello!”

Her own voice is the only reply she receives. She doesn’t expect anything else.

Still, she can’t bring herself to leave. She continues to gaze into the light, and that’s when she sees it— _remembers_ it. She sees herself. Older, the way a human ages, standing in this very spot, looking at this same light. Her face was wrinkled and her garments ones she’s now unfamiliar with, but she remembers without a shred of doubt that she’s been here before. And just like now, she remembers speaking to the light’s slumbering source.

_‘I’ll make sure that the world you wake up to is a beautiful one. Until then, sleep well—’_

“Sorey.”

Alisha blinks, only to find herself blinking back tears. She wipes at her eyes, and when her vision clears, she looks back once more across Camlann, flowers and lush grass as far as the eyes can see. The sight that greets her is a far cry from the one she just remembered. She thinks of all the places she’d seen and been to, all the people she’d talked to, how much of the world she’s experienced. Now she realizes why she’d waited until now to come.

Turning to face the light again, she smiles.

“I’ve kept my promise. It’s time you woke up now, Sorey.”

●

It’s a long walk up to the gate of Elysia, but Alisha’s never minded it. She can hardly remember the last time she and all the others got together in one place, and aside from her personal preference for Ladylake, she couldn’t pick a better place to see everyone again than in Elysia. What catches her attention is Lailah and Zaveid already waiting by the gate, their figures barely visible in the horizon. The Prime Lord waves enthusiastically the moment she sees her coming up, but then Zaveid comes running down to get her, and Lailah follows close behind.

“Come on, princess, now’s not the time to drag your feet!” he all but hollers as he reaches her, taking her by the hand to drag into running to Elysia.

Lailah goes behind her to push her shoulders, and Alisha struggles to not stumble as they force her into what feels like a six-legged run. “Yes, you must hurry, Alisha! We’ve all been waiting for you!”

“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying!” she laughs, a little amused by the apparent rush but much more confused by it than anything else. “Really, what’s the big hurry for? What did you need me for so badly?”

They’re already past the gate when Zaveid says, “You’ll see in just a second, don’t you worry. But trust me, you’re gonna love it.”

Lailah shifts from her back to her side, and Zaveid finally lets go of her hand, allowing her to rest her hands against her thighs as she heaves in air after the sprint. She’s not sure she’s _ever_ had to run that hard in her life.

“Alright, I believe you, just… Let me catch my breath first…”

The Prime Lord giggles, not even bothering to hide it behind her hands anymore. Honestly, just what is going on? “Of course. Whenever you’re ready, it’s just up ahead of you. Don’t worry, we’ll be close behind.”

“I’m not in trouble or anything, am I?” she asks as she turns around, still panting.

“Don’t sweat it.” Zaveid waves it off, stepping back to stand with Lailah. “Just start walking when you’re good, we’ll follow your lead.”

It takes her a few more moments to finally catch her breath, but eventually she starts walking, and just like they said, the two older seraphim follow behind her, whispering to each other in hushed voices and trying to suppress laughter. The whole thing only makes her _nervous_ about what lies up ahead, but as they go through Elysia, she can’t help but notice that the entire village looks positively festive. They never looked particularly unhappy of course, but something’s changed Elysia’s usual idyllic peace into an exuberant one. She just can’t imagine what.

At the edge of the village, Alisha finally spots the others. Edna has her parasol up as always, although her braid’s a little longer now. She turns to face them as they approach, twirling her accessory on her shoulder like usual, but she almost seems energetic for once, smiling good-naturedly instead of looking bored. Past her she sees Mikleo, and if she thought Edna seemed oddly energized, the water seraph can barely contain his own enthusiasm. Every word he says sounds like it says a hundred things at once, a million things he’s been meaning to say for forever finally coming out all at once. He seems brighter and livelier than she’s ever seen, not even when they explored ruins outside of Glenwood together.

And just past him, she catches a golden-tipped feather.

Her heart stutters.

“She’s here,” she hears Mikleo whisper before her turns to face her, and as if her heart wasn’t just pounding from the run, the better she sees the boy behind Mikleo, the harder it beats in her chest. “Alisha, there’s someone we wanted you to me—”

“Sorey.”

The name leaves her mouth before she even thinks of it. Mikleo blinks, and she feels the others still behind her as well. Without saying anything, the boy steps forward towards her, the same stunned expression on his face that she knows she has as well.

His eyes are a deeper green than her own, and his long brown hair is tied off into a high ponytail. Feathers adorn the shells of his ears while on his left hand he still wears the glove of the Shepherd. Alisha catalogues these details, takes them in and organizes the facts of him standing before her, but she doesn’t recognize or remember a single one of them.

It doesn’t matter. She recognizes _him._

“Hello, Sorey,” she manages, voice thick and choked as her eyes water.

But it’s okay, because he looks at her with tears streaming down his face and says just as awkwardly, “Hi, Alisha.”

She throws her arms around him, just as he throws her arms around her, and they sob and laugh together, their laughter thick with tears but brighter despite it.

“I missed you,” she says with a smile, and she knows without a shred of doubt that she means it. She doesn’t remember Sorey, but she _knows_ him, and she’s missed his presence for ages. For lifetimes.

He laughs, eyes closed and teeth showing, and he pulls back only to wipe at his eyes. “Yeah! Me, too. I really missed you, too, and I don’t even really _know_ you! Weird, right?”

She shakes her head and laughs, taking his hand in hers to squeeze it.

“Trust me. I know the feeling.”

He beams at her, and she knows that after all this time, Alisha Diphda can finally rest in true peace.

Melphis Amekia can only look forward to the future.

**Author's Note:**

> * alisha totally should’ve had a crush on zaveid, dude’s ripped like the gaius bust statue  
> * would zaveid even know melphis amekia as one of her true names??? ihni but oh well  
> * i have little interest in berseria but thank you berseria for giving me info i could use in this  
> * totally going with the idea that edna’s appearance came out of a subconscious desire to remain looking like a good little sister in hopes that eizen would return one day; with him gone for good, edna starts “aging” a little bit  
> * i debated having it so that mikleo had no idea that alisha was back because edna made everyone swear not to tell him if they ran into him so that alisha could meet him on her own terms but despite the intentions even for edna that seemed a little too cruel  
> * “why not just have him not meet anyone in the meantime” look he’s already sad and lovesick over sorey not being around I doubt he would’ve avoided seeing EVERYONE in all that time  
> * “just how much time even passes” HONESTLY....... IDK EITHER a longass time there we go (more seriously a bit longer than a thousand years at the VERYy least but probably longer than that)  
> * i had to play the game again for 30 seconds just to remember the location names. be glad you didn’t read this fic with things like “She wants to go to [THAT GIANT ASS BRIDGE].” scattered about


End file.
